Mikel Arteta undertook a risky strategy that paid off against Portsmouth. He opted to start 6 kids 20 or under against a form side. Portsmouth were unbeaten in 19 games at home. They were also on a 10 game winning streak. That’s a lot of confidence in the players and a lot with the fans.
The game wasn’t Picasso in its beauty, but that was always unlikely in a cup game with a ferocious home ground so mean they sang ‘You’re leaving in an ambulance’ to Lucas T when he was smashed over without a booking inside 15 minutes. That moment unnerved us and quite often in big injury games, both teams switch off, but we gained our composure and had the best chances of the half.
I’d say the problems in the first half were very similar to those we face with the senior team, in the final third, we lacked a decent ball and our finishing was poor. We had a few shaky moments at the back from some looping crosses, but we kept their chances to a minimum. In fact, they only hit the target once in the entire game. Gabriel missed a couple of sitters that he’ll regret and I think Eddie also flunked his lines. The opening moment did come though, deep into injury time Nelson fizzed a low cross at Sokratis, the GREEK BEAST buried his shot inside the near post. A thing of beauty. A strikers finish. Alan Shearer in tears at the purity.
The second half was a different story altogehter. We took a far more aggressive approach and absolutely dominated the chances and the possession. Reiss Nelson again made the difference with a great run and final ball that found Eddie, he did brilliantly at the near post finishing like a boss.
We can look at the result as a professional job well done, I’m not sure I always felt like it during the game, but we limited Pompey to zero shots on target across the 90 minutes and a young team rode out some brutal play from the home side and an absolutely standard Mike Riley performance in which you can be sure he was desperate to help Pompey. Booking Matteo for theatrics but not the thug that smashed Torreira summed it up.
There were some solid performances. Pablo Mari, the most handsome man in the team looked very assured. He had the second most touches on the pitch, made some good blocks, and gave a solid account of himself. He opens up the pitch as well, he’s very pro moving the ball forward and he’s actually far quicker than I thought he’d be. Yep, quicker than Per, I said it. Let’s see if he can do that against the Hammers in a few days.
Joe Willock didn’t have his best game. His touch was off, he made some bad decisions and his final ball was not of the standard we’d expect of a 10. I’m not sure that’s his position. I like that he has outrageous amounts of energy, and that he never lets his head drop, but he’s not quite right in the 10 role. I’m not sure if he even likes playing there.
Reiss Nelson landed two assists. He was direct, confident and he had a lot of swagger about his game. I’m so pleased to see him improving, notable that Arteta said he was a special talent, he clearly had a lot of hope for his future.
Sokratis is worth a mention just because he played the most Hollywood ball of the game and it was pretty, also can’t know a centre back scoring a goal like an elite striker.
Saka continued to have some good moments, Ceballos fought like a dog, and I’ll continue to give David Luiz props for being a mentor regardless of the game he’s playing in. It was great to see him spending time with Reiss after the game. I am really impressed with his attitude towards the new regime and his approach to the games since Emery left.
Arteta once again delivered his criticism to the players in plain English. He had this to say on AMN absence from the starting 11.
“Ainsley needs to put his head down, work hard and show me every day in training he wants it more than anybody else and that he wants to play for this club and fight for his place.”
Lack of focus has been a a critique of him in the past. He’ll switch off, do something dopey on the pitch and look unfocused. Counter that critique of him to what he said of Papa.
“He moans a little bit because it’s not his position,” Arteta joked, “but for certain games I think [Sokratis] is very [much a] handful.
“He has always had the right attitude and has qualities to play there in certain moments when we need him.
“Sometimes he needs to interpret what’s happening, when we have the ball it’s a little bit difficult for him to use the space like he should do in relation to what the opponents are doing. But in general he did really well again.”
It’s clear. Do what you’re asked. Focus. You will get games. AMN is going to blow his chance with us and end up like Theo and Iwobi. Sad to see.
Overall, it’s a game we should have won. But we’ve slipped in the past after a bad result. The players fought hard, they kept their composure and they once again showed they are up for the fight.
Now we have to do it in the league. Champions League is the goal, we need to make it happen. Onwards and upwards, we’re playing West Ham next. Always tough to play derby games, but a win is the only acceptable outcome.
He did!
Boom
Tr4phy
Tr4phy
DM too good at this
Reiss Nelson gave us a taste of what Arteta sees in him.
Just about everyime he was on the ball he looked like he could make things happen.
We have all had our doubts about his lack of progress under Emery , but what I saw from him last night makes me think that the little time that Arteta has had with Nelson is beginning to bear fruits.
Raptora Rather like RT your comments regarding my opinions as posted on last thread are nonsense. I have made it crystal clear on many occasions that Ozil is past his sell by date although he is an immensely talented footballer. As I posted after the game against Olympiacos he is not capable of playing two games in a week and has no longer the ability to provide consistently assists and score goals. On the other hand we do not have currently any other midfielder in our squad who is any more productive and that was blindingly obvious all season. Our… Read more »
Stroller
We have a player on our books who has always scored and provided assists throughout his career from midfield.
Mhkitaryan.
Another cock up by Emery who had no idea how to get the best out of him.
Add the goals and assists of Ramsey who was allowed to leave for nothing , which was another cock up .
Another one that Emery had no idea how to get the best out of and frequently benched him.
The ref was Mike Dean (not Riley)
Pierre
Both Mkhitaryan and Ramsey are no longer playing at Arsenal.
For the record Arsenal’s Midfield provided 30+ assists or goals last season. By
comparison the midfield this provides negligible productivity.
Pierre, both are gone, get over it already. Geez but you are a miserable broken record.
The more I think about it the more it feels like the club shouldn’t have spent over 70m and god knows how much under the table for the Pepe deal. In our situation every penny matters and spending a truck of money on such a raw player who might or might not deliver, and has certainly not proved his value just yet, maybe thinking about it wasn’t the right thing to do. He’s a good player, don’t get me wrong. It just feels that the money paid were too much for a player that isn’t the real. Pepe is a… Read more »
Pierre
Mykhi was a flop at United too and he’s not exactly lighting up Serie A at the moment.
He’s a product of Wenger’s mismanagement of the Sanchez contract. Had we sold Sanchez to city in 2017, there would have been no need to get Mykhi on crazy wages.
We had to pay a stupidity tax on Mykhi because his super extracted a major wage increase from us.
Pepe needs pushing out on the left. Back to basics for the lad. I’d give Reiss some game time on the right. Auba in the middle. No more cutting back. No more slowly down the game down in certain situations. More directness. AMN attitude has been that bad, an unfit bellerin in preferred ahead of him. Lad needs to wise up. He was playing well when Arteta took over. Let it go to his head thinking hed walk back into the middle. Still only 22. Some players don’t start their careers until then. Hes played a hell alot of games… Read more »
Poor box play by Portsmouth and the Evans headers that
should have been better let us off first half.
Guen continues to show so much energy he will continue to improve
if only he could keep his trap shut with referees and stop acting like the sheriff.?
As loud as the Portsmouth fans are their despicable chant with The Torreira
injury only shows the upbringing they have had.
In all a satisfactoryFA cup progression.
Pompey is dive. Shit hole of an area.
Chavs and loud mouth fools.
raptora
You’re overthinking the Pepe situation.
It’s his first season at Arsenal. He had no preseason and came to a club in transitional turmoil. He’s playing with his third manager this season.
Wait till this time next season before you write him off.
*super agent
Stroller In all fairness to our players , I wouldnt expect too many goals from central midfield as their job is to bring balance to the team and are rarely if ever are ahead of the ball ( which I agree with) .l Under Arteta , the 2 in the centre midfield are there to recycle the ball and to thwart any counter attacks. Where we are short of assists and goals is from the CAM position, though in defence of Ozil or whoever plays there, our attacks and assists are mostly from wide positions so maybe Arteta is happy… Read more »
For the record when we discuss midfield performance I suggest that you look at the stats for goals scored and assists last season and compare it with this season. The I looked up the stats for our 5 major midfielders last season here are details of their productivity in EPL and Europa League. Xhaka 4 + 5 Torreira 2 + 1 Mkhitaryan 6 + 7 Ramsey 6 + 8 Ozil 6 + 3 So collectively the scored 24 goals and provided 24 assists. This did not include any other goals and assists provided fringe players. Take a look at the… Read more »
“raptora
You’re overthinking the Pepe situation.”
You’re probably right. I just felt that if we spent so much money, we are to except a world class player similar to how Auba is a world class player and we got him for less money. Pepe could become the real deal, but at this moment of time, the real deal he is not.
Dissenter
“Mykhi was a flop at United too and he’s not exactly lighting up Serie A at the moment.”
Depends on what one would constitute being a flop
He scored 11 goals from midfield for united in his first full season .
Has scored 6 this season for Roma despite missing games through injury and joining Roma after the season started.
Stroller
The answer to the question is in my comment at 9.57.43.
Stroller I think you will find that Pepe and Saka are our chief creators at this present time It is very difficult for a central player to provide assists if their orders are to play the ball wide to create an overload . I cant say I agree with just using this tactic, though I do think it is to thwart the attempt of the counter attack and to a certain extent its working. Maybe in time, Arteta will be more expansive as it is vital that he continues to address our defensive issues. No goals in open play in… Read more »
Should read, No goals CONCEDED in open play in 6 games.
Pierre
You wouldn’t know what a midfielder flop is even it showed up as Santa Claus in high heels in midsummer.
After all you still think the assist-less and largely goal-less Ozil is still decent. I’ll listen to a page 3 topless model (about midfielders) before I turn to you.
Pierre
Even allowing for assists from wide positions I would still expect a greater productivity from our midfield.
I have not included in the figures goals and assists from other players such as
Iwobi nor the decline in goalscoring performance of Lacazette so you can see
a huge gulf in goal scoring potential last season and this.
We are discussing something like 40 goals scored difference. If Aubameyang
leaves this summer I shudder to think about our goal scoring potential next
season.
Pierre
So in ‘fairness to Ozil’, you’re willing to throw his teammate under the bus just to polish the turd that he’s become.
There’s no iteration of a successful midfield that does not involve attacking midfielders contributing with ASSISTS and GOALS.
Dissenter
“After all you still think the assist-less and largely goal-less Ozil is still decent. ”
And so does our very astute manager .
‘I personally would have liked Oyarzabal who would have came in and instantly have the best vision in our whole team. Also really dangerous going forward.’
Lovely Player. Dont think we can get him as easily as you said Especially not for anything below 60mil.
Pierre
Actually Arteta is playing Ozil because of necessity, same reason he kept Xhaka.
The club is stuck with Ozil until he runs down his contract, everyone knows this.
Arteta has no choice really, but your commentary doesn’t have to celebrate Ozil the way you do.
Pierre, Emery has left the building, because he tanked badly, starting the back end of last season, and confusing on through this season when he lost the players and we were all over the place. He failed in a number of areas, but two areas stand out: 1) defensive structure and organisation, and 2) playing the attractive possession-based football Arsenal fans expect to see. One area he didn’t fail in is in attack, where we the third best team last season, despite numerous changes of formation, and changes in personnel in midfield/attack. If we’re being honest, Mikki, under both Wenger… Read more »
Confusing on = carrying on.
Freudian typo!
WOB
“One area he didn’t fail in is in attack, where we the third best team last season, despite numerous changes of formation, and changes in personnel in midfield/attack.”
Yeah , we were brilliant offensively…this season especially.
The way I see it, the reason why there is no assist through the middle is because our two strikers are poacher type. They are average in buildup play. If we had strikers like Sergio Agüero, Roberto Firmino or Karim Benzema, who can play double passes through the middle, then the midfielders would get the assists. Arteta selects the buildup through wing plays. Another way is to have midfielders who can carry the ball inside the box and score.
Mike Dean, Mike Riley, doesnt matter, two sides of the same bad penny
A mature performance, not pretty, but it got the job done.
I hope the players that played last Thursday were watching because that is what they should have done.
Joe Willock isn’t a no. 10. Skillwise, with his athleticism, he is more like a no .8… similar to the role Ramsey used to play.
Still smarting from getting kicked out of Europe in the manner we did… ughh.
I seem to remember, doesn’t the winner of the FA Cup play in the Europa League of the following season?
We desperately need a goal scoring midfielder who is quick and can beat people, all our midfielders like the ball to feet and nobody Willock aside do not run past the forwards.
Pierre,
As you are well aware my comment on Emery’s relative attacking success referred to last season, when Mikki, Ramsey and Iwobi were all available.
It’s really quite pointless to try to be sarcastic whilst intentionally misreading a comment.
How old is AMN? 22? Earning £30k to £50k a week? If he is sulking on the sidelines just because he doesn’t get to play in his favourite position… he really needs to get over himself.
Either he wants to show up for the fight or shrivel and feel sorry for himself. He has been given a chance that many would love to have. Either he makes the most of it now or he is in danger of missing out altogether.
Saka isn’t complaining. Why is he?
Dissenter I notice that you have gone quiet on your continuous criticism of Nketiah. I have been telling you all that he has the makings of a very good striker, and he is providing evidence on the pitch. A goal every 69 mins in all comps this season is a very good rate of scoring. I was slaughtered on here for suggesting that Nketiah looks a better all round player than Martinelli as everybody had jumped on the Martinelli bandwagon . Martinelli will come again and will score bundles of goals but Eddie ,as I said , has an all… Read more »
Late to the party… quick one.Congrats to the boys.We played well yesterday and Mari had a solid debut.Nketiah looks like he will become the auba type,elite in knowing where the ball will fall in the box and scoring…he also has an elite goalscoring celebration too.Special mention to Reiss nelson too for a good perfomance.
WOB
“As you are well aware my comment on Emery’s relative attacking success referred to last season, when Mikki, Ramsey and Iwobi were all available.”
Ramsey started 13 league games I think it was.
Mhkitaryan you obviously didn’t rate.
So it must have been iwobi who made the difference last season.
Or was it due to the fact that Aubameyang and Lacazette could hardly miss last season
Sounds more plausible to me.
Pierre
I was unsure about Nkettiah but you will recall I always wished him well.
The lad is okay and has justified his manger’s faith.
I have nothing more to say that you were right to defend him at every turn.
Pierre
I still disagree about the comparison with Martinelli though
Martinelli draws the praise of everyone who’s commented on our games. Nkettiah is a work in progress who’s justifying his minutes.
Nkettiah makes it easier to sell Laca for whatever we get.
An outside chance of fourth and another FA Cup win would be pretty good for the wonder manager. If only Arsenal hadn’t fucked the Emery appointment up, Arteta would probably have won the league and Champions League by now and set an unbeaten run of 49+.
#godlike
Guns of Hackney
What???
You don’t like sauce with your kosher veggie cheese burger again?
NelsonMarch 3, 2020 10:59:07 “The way I see it, the reason why there is no assist through the middle is because our two strikers are poacher type. They are average in buildup play. If we had strikers like Sergio Agüero, Roberto Firmino or Karim Benzema, who can play double passes through the middle, then the midfielders would get the assists. Arteta selects the buildup through wing plays. Another way is to have midfielders who can carry the ball inside the box and score.” Agreed. Pierre, The other reason is what Nelson stated above.. Lacazette is being actually asked to play… Read more »
a lot of counter attacks *
The biggest issue for me is the slow, pedestrian build-up. We are continually slowing the game down and wasting the natural pace we possess with players like Nelson, Martinelli, Auba, Saka, Pepe, etc. It is blindingly obvious that the consistent sideways movement or passes back to the keeper slow the game down and allow the opposition to form up. At one point last night Martinelli was 5 yards from their goal and within a few seconds, the ball was at the feet of Martinez – who lumped it up the field to no one in particular ! It does not… Read more »
Mike Dean is mike Riley’s lovechild.Both slap head twats who hate Arsenal.
I have been telling you all that he has the makings of a very good striker, and he is providing evidence on the pitch.
True that. I have been trying to saying it too but many on here were very fast to put Nketiah to the sword. Hope he carries on his current goalscoring form.
Wish a couple of more players in the squad had the same attitude. Good on you PapaSok for not being a douchehat. https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/arsenal-sokratis-mikel-arteta-a4377116.html . “I don’t care. If I’m not happy, I don’t play enough or the coach doesn’t like me, I don’t care about the contract. For me the money is not important, it is important I feel good, I feel happy and the team is happy with me. If not, I take the road and I finish.” Pushed on whether he would consider a contract extension, he added: “I don’t think about it, I think every day to… Read more »
Michael, The build up play is slow because 1) Forwards don’t make runs into channels that are actually available for passing.. There is no point running behind the defenders into space when the passing channel of the midfielder is closed down 2) You can overcome point 1) if you midfield can actually dribble away to create the angles, but again the forwards need to have that intelligence to wait, allow the midfielder to wriggle free before making the run, otherwise they will get off side. Kolasinac is absolutely outstanding at timing the run compared to the rest of the players… Read more »
Aye to that, Michael. We need to revert back to a solid defence and strong counter Attack. That’s how you win trophies: mean defence and quick on the turn.
We are way too ponderous. Maybe too afraid of losing the ball.
Martinelli on the left *
“Arsenal pair Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette have signed new contracts at the club, according to talkSPORT”
Don’t know if it’s true or just clickbait.. find out later I guess
@Bojangles, that would be a very odd outcome
Caz:
Agreed. The slow build-up is a funcion of both the pondersous midfield and the lack of movement by the front three. However we must speed up the transition from back to front. Relying on one-paced movement is predictable and plays into the hands of teams sitting deep.
Shift the ball quicker – surprise a few people with the speed of transition !
Good result and a clean sheet, that all matters
Is Toreira out of the season then!?
Yeah, I’d disregard that last post, just been to talksport and found no mention of it there.
I think Eddie will be a success for us. Hes an old school poacher. His movement into the box, anticipation for loose balls. Beating the first man, to the post. Hes always moving. Centre backs hate that. We are setting up the team to suit the players we have. Our midfield on paper is rather defensive, we know that. Arteta wouldn’t look at Fernandinho, Toure (years back) they could cover ground on their own at city. We have to play slightly more conservative I do wish the turnover on the counter was quicker though. Sometimes we do hold onto the… Read more »
“Mykhi was a flop at United too and he’s not exactly lighting up Serie A at the moment.”
6 goals and 3 assists in 811 minutes of play.
That’s much better than Willock would have done.
Mike Dean is mike Riley’s lovechild.Both slap head twats who hate Arsenal.
Add Mcdermott too the incest child.
Let’s be honest here.
Anyone who plays in that number 10 role for us has been shit this season.
Especially if judging it on goals and assists.
Overall this season willock and ozil would be on the same regardless of opposition.
Welcome on the Nketiah bandwagon, plenty of room on here… 😉
I told you he would come good. If managed properly he can be our answer to Harry Kane… as I said a little ages ago… 😉
“Arsenal pair Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette have signed new contracts at the club, according to talkSPORT”
Lacazette should be sold back to France for €30m + add ons. Lille should be in need of him as they’re likely to play champions league football next season. We need that money added to our lean purse for bodies elsewhere, particularly the defence. It will be an ozil-like disaster to put Laca on a new contract. Arteta won’t be that daft, I bet he knows.
For those youngsters, having a coach believing in you is very important. I am not so sure whether Reiss Nelson is as good as Arteta says. But I can see that his confidence will go through the roof playing under Arteta.
Arteta wants players to pass the ball quickly. You can see that he likes to make a circular motion with his hand to urge the players to pass the ball. He plays a ball possession system. The only way it can work is to pass the ball quickly. Pepe will be a big challenge for him.
Samesong lol!
Like Pierre, I have misgiving with the restriction out on our central midfielders by Arteta. They are recyclers and obviously under order to avoid taking risk. They never play long ball except for switch of play. On Monday evening, times and times again Saka was making a run behind the fullback and was ignored by Ceballos. Martinelli had to drop deep to release him with either a chip over the opposition player or a fusing ball inside the fullback and the CB. The same with Guendouzi who clearly has been told to forget about the ball over the top to… Read more »
Arsenal only need a couple of players and we’ll be just fine.
A forward to replace Auba/Laca or both.
Perhaps one midfielder/two.
With Arteta as manager, it’s like starting every game with 12 players on the pitch.
I just read Swiss Ramble’s twitter thread. When’s the group wrist slitting? My reading of it is that our revenues are so gash we’ll not have any money to upgrade the squad. So it’ll be a case of sell to spend. Based on current performances and historical form, I’d be hoping we’d get better money for Xhaka and Mustafi than we would have in the last couple of transfer windows, and if we can get something for Lacazette, then I think I would sell him. Hard to see how we can get back to being a solid bet for top… Read more »
Biggles
Re Swiss Ramble
Excellent analysis from him all the time… but makes you think what the point was in moving to the Emirates…? Doesn’t it?
The rule of Arteta praises:
When Arteta praises the talent/quality of a player I don’t rate, he’s trying to improve the chances of him being sold. Yet when he does it to a player I rate, he genuinely thinks he’s good/talented.
Apply liberally to your heart’s content.
Bojangles- Is that legit? Would be a very strange time to sign a new deal considering our Europa exit and question marks over European footie next season.
If they have signed I expect they are probably be on the same terms with hefty bonuses for team and individual success.
Reiss was great yesterday, glad to see Arteta hasn’t condemned a winger fresh out his teens already like some posters on here.
Overall a great team performance although had Portsmouth been more clinical it could be a different story. Very pleased with Mari, looked very composed. We need to see him more against the pace of the premier league but so far so good!
Leeds– exactly moving from HIGHBURY PUT US BACK YEARS.
An upgrade on the existing ground at the time would have put
us in a good position.
At least the atmosphere and crowd involvement would have been retained.
And i am sure our budget and success would have moved in a different direction.
Another massive Arsenal mistake.
Swiss Ramble’s analysis is very good and very disturbing. On almost every financial measure, Arsenal is a club in decline. And with an owner who clearly does not give a fart.
Thank you Stan for your contribution to the affairs of a great club – you cunt.
Giggles.
People get confused by the cash reserves it’s the bottom line year on year that is the issue and with the huge summer2019 spend the amortised charge will jump massively. The way FFP is written gives no advantage if you have money on deposit
The Swiss Rambler made an interesting prediction re this current years figures and whilst he isn’t suggesting a loss there is very little wriggle room
Giggles? Biggles
Sorry
Pierre Mykhi was a flop at United too and he’s not exactly lighting up Serie A at the moment. He’s a product of Wenger’s mismanagement of the Sanchez contract. Had we sold Sanchez to city in 2017, there would have been no need to get Mykhi on crazy wages. We had to pay a stupidity tax on Mykhi because his super extracted a major wage increase from us. —————— Dissenter Mkhi was the Bundesliga player of the year before he joined United who tripled his wages and gave him a 8m signing bonus. He took the money over a better… Read more »
ValentinMarch 3, 2020 13:33:01
“Like Pierre, I have misgiving with the restriction out on our central midfielders by Arteta. They are recyclers and obviously under order to avoid taking risk.”
The thought of a misplaced pass with Saka in the final 3rd Xhakalson covering at left back, ozil hiding leaving only 1 CM covering is the stuff Freddie Kruger is made of
Funny how the people who said Emery attacked through the wings because he was clueless are making excuses for Arteta.
Just play Ozil in behind and watch the assist flow was the anthem of the Oziltologist a few months ago.
No worries Terraloon, I answer to just about anything. The concern I have is all the other teams around us managing to grow their revenues and catch us, or open up ever greater gaps. For instance, on the pitch at least Manure are little better than us, but all it takes is getting shot of OGS and the hiring of someone who has a tactical knowledge at least good enough to be successful in Football Manager and they can then drop £100m without batting an eyelid to realise their vision. We can’t do that. At the same time, you have… Read more »
Van Persie on Arsenal’s lack of ambition before he jumped ship. “I personally have had a great season but my goal has been to win trophies with the team and to bring the club back to its glory days. “Out of my huge respect for Mr Wenger, the players and the fans I don’t want to go into any details, but unfortunately in this meeting it has again become clear to me that we in many aspects disagree on the way Arsenal FC should move forward.” Arsenal is yet to move forward, almost a decade down the line. If we… Read more »
Azed
“Just play Ozil in behind and watch the assist flow was the anthem of the Oziltologist a few months ago.”
Ozil is toast. We should be offering him to Beckham’s US club for a decent fee. I’ll happily take €15m to get his wages off books. He’ll be an appeal to the US crowd, shirt sales, star attraction and could actually get those assists his stans big him up here.
Fairly Used: Good point. If Swiss Ramble’s analysis is correct, we are the only member of the Big 6 whose revenues have declined in the past two years. Kroenke is the only owner among the Big 6 who has never invested in a penny (or cent) in the their club. After almost 10 years of Kroenke control or total ownership, the club’s financial position has weakened. Looking ahead, future transfers will be funded by selling anything we can move on. But these will invarably be cut-price sales because the other clubs will see us coming. Kroenke is presiding over the… Read more »
Looking at the stats it’s clear that our midfield is the problem.
It’s not functioning and the lack of goals tells us why our season is poor.
We have no stand out midfielders just clumsy poor quality footballers.
Why do we keep going sideways?
For a couple of games it looked better and now it’s back to type.
Arteta still does not impress me, he seems to have one hand on the brake.
SpanishDave
Its not Arteta’s fault and he’s doing the best we can with the squad we have.
In defence of Arteta’s tactics, I guess he saw the defence and stopping the flood of goals as the main priority when he joned. We have certainly improved defensively. I wonder whether he will wait until the new season before addressing the obvious weaknesses in the attacking style.
” I’ll happily take €15m to get his wages off books”
Fuck me another “fan” who thinks we can get a fee for Ozil. One minute saying he’s useless and in the next breath saying another club will not only offer a contract matching his £18.2 million a year salary but will pay us a fee as well.
Marc, why exactly is your opinion so superior? Ozil is a big commercial force, especially for specific sections of fans like turkish immigrants in turkey. He would surely be a bigger force outside the epl as well. It doesn’t seem outlandish to get 15m for him. I can imagine a few teams in italy wouldn’t mind having him
*turkish immigrants in germany
Zach
Ozil isn’t going to take a big cut in salary. His next deal is his last chance to sign on big money, the idea that he’ll sign a deal on £150k maybe £200k per week giving up the last year of his current deal is idiotic when he can leave on a free in a year getting the £18.2 million and sign a contact at least as lucrative.
Who do you think is going to match his current salary on a minimum 2 year deal and pay a15 million euro fee?
Özil, like Arshavin, before him will leave on a free.
Not quite sure I’m vibing with this idea that Arteta has asked his midfield to stop playing through balls. Think our midfield last night just had real trouble with them. Willock couldn’t find anyone, Matteo seems to lack confidence in that department and Ceballos was just doing as he usually does.
Micheal
“Looking ahead, future transfers will be funded by selling anything we can move on. But these will invarably be cut-price sales because the other clubs will see us coming.”
You seem to know this but one would wonder why Marc would be so bent on giving our players out for free. If we can’t milk €15m for selling Ozil then whoever is in charge of transfers should resign. Hertha Berlin were ready to pay 30 odd million for Xhaka’s services but Marc would rather we sell for peanuts. I bet he doesn’t know a thing about sales.
Pabloooooo
https://twitter.com/Arsenal/status/1234885736895307778?s=20
FUG
I’d love to get a fee for Ozil but it’s not going to happen and I know a lot more about sales than you do.
Do you think another club will pay him £350k per week?
Do you think another club will pay him £350k per week and pay a circa £12 million for him?
Why would Ozil give up over £18 million?